


Hey Qween & Look at Huh! v/ Brooke Lynn Hytes

by TheArtificialDane



Series: The Brightest Timeline [58]
Category: RuPaul's Drag Race (US) RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29291811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheArtificialDane/pseuds/TheArtificialDane
Summary: A Brightest take on Brooke's episode of 'Hey Qween'
Relationships: Brooke Lynn Hytes/Vanessa Vanjie Mateo
Series: The Brightest Timeline [58]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1400260
Comments: 7
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Link to Hey Qween: https://youtu.be/FePekdhVm9U

_ “We are back!” Johnny is sitting at his desk, wearing a flannel, a stack of cards in his hand. “And today’s guest is not only Miss Continental, not only one of America’s Drag Superstars, not only a stunner, a lip sync assassin and a fashionista, she’s also the host of Drag Race Canada. Please welcome the Queen of the North, Brooke Lynn Hytes!” _

_ “Hi Johnny!” Brooke smiles, waving her hand. She’s wearing a sparkling blue motorcycle jacket and flaming orange boots, her wig a gigantic beach curly light orange cloud. “It’s so nice to be here. You know,” Brooke points her fan at Johnny, “This is truly a Ru Girl rite of passage.” _

_ “We are happy to have you honey,” Johnny grins. “We’ve been waiting, hoping and dreaming.” _

_ “I took my time, but I’m here now!” Brooke shimmies her shoulders, a brilliant smile on her lips as she leans back on the sequinsed couch. _

_ *** _

_ “So,” Johnny looks over at Brooke, “can you tell us a little bit about the whole hosting gig for Canada’s Drag Race?” _

_ “Because of season 2?” Brooke smiles, holding the fan in her hands. “I personally still can’t believe that the show even exists. I still remember the first time I mentioned it. It was right after we filmed season 11, and I was in LA.” _

_ “Visiting Vanjie?” Johnny wiggles his brow. _

_ “Maybe, maybe not,” Brooke grins, “but I was in LA, visiting the World of Wonder offices, discussing a possible show with them, and I just mentioned that if they ever wanted to do Canada, I’d love to host it.” Brooke laughs, pushing some of her hair over her shoulder.  _

_ “Real full of myself.” Brooke smiles at the camera, “but anyway. About 9 months later, they called me and asked if I wanted to be a permanent judge, and I swear I almost blacked out.” _

_ “That must have been big news!” Johnny claps his hands. _

_ “Gigantic news!” Brooke looks genuinely pleased. “It was while 11 was still airing, and I had no idea if I had won, if the fans would actually like me long term, all of it was absolutely insane.” Brooke crosses her legs, “Normally, you only get one NDA for people in your personal life.” _

_ “Oh?” Johnny looked surprised. “Really?” _

_ “Yes, since it is a secret,” Brooke smiles, “but they were kind enough to give me two, and I made my manager Steve sign one, while Vanjie signed the other.” Brooke grins. “I didn’t tell him anything about the actual show, because he can’t keep a secret for shit.” _

_ “Ha!” Johnny snorts. “I can imagine.” _

_ “Right?” Brooke smirks, looking over at Johnny, tapping her fan against her leg, “but it was nice. It meant I could call him while filming,” _

_ “That’s important.” Johnny nods. _

_ “So important! Being away from you friends and family can really fuck with your head, but forcing him to sign the NDA actually worked out in my favor, since I cried so much when we sent the first girl home.” Brooke gives a sheepish grin. _

_ “No?!” _

_ “I did, I did!” Brooke looks almost embarrassed. “I haven’t told a lot of people, and I went in, being so excited about being a bitch and getting to do my mean girl thing, but seeing someone getting their dreams crushed, knowing the person on stage and knowing you were part of it? Total panic attack.”  _

_ Brooke shrugs, looking down at the fan.  _

_ “One of the producers even came into my room, asking if I was okay while I was on the phone, and I just said ‘Noooo’, bawling my eyes out.” _

_ *** _

_ “Now,” Johnny smiles, wiggling his brows, “let us talk about your own Drag Race journey!” _

_ “Oh god,” Brooke grins, moving on the couch to be more comfortable, while Johnny switches his cards. _

_ “How many times did you audition for Drag Race before you got on?” _

_ “3!” Brooke tapped her fingers against her knee, her palm resting on it, “Once when I still lived in Canada, and I was allegedly supposed to have been on season 10, but that didn’t happen-” _

_ “There’s nothing worse than when you almost get it,” Johnny smiles. _

_ “Right?! It was the worst, and I was so gutted.” Brooke sighs, touching her chest for a moment. “I didn’t get that far, but I did get far enough that I almost believed in it, and it was absolutely heartbreaking. I mean, I’m glad now that I didn’t-” _

_ “Because you won season 11?” Johnny smirks. _

_ “Oh, yeah, right, obviously also for that reason,” Brooke laughs, gesturing to Johnny, “but if I had gotten on season 10, I wouldn’t have met Vanjie like I did.” Brooke smiles. “It actually haunts me sometimes. The knowledge that we could have missed each other like that? Terrible.”  _

_ “That actually leads perfectly to my next question.” Johnny switches his cards, a glint in his eyes. _

_ “I walked directly into that one, didn’t I?” Brooke smiles, but she’s clearly not bothered. _

_ “Let’s talk of romance, one that the Werq Room had never seen the likes of before-” Johnny does jazz hands, “Branjie!” _

_ “That’s us,” Brooke laughs. “Plastique really lucked out with that branding, huh?” Brooke moves her jacket slightly, making sure she’s covering up her butt. “If she wasn’t so fucking sucessful I felt like I should pay her for it.” _

_ “You know,” Johnny grins, “we had Silky in here not that long ago.”  _

_ “Mmh?” Brooke raises a brow. _

_ “And Silky said that she’s actually the reason you two got together.” _

_ “I wouldn’t say the whole reason, but she definitely helped.” Brooke smiles. “She orchestrated this whole thing with an inhaler and the basement, but I wouldn’t say she’s the only reason. I mean, I already knew Vanjie was hitting on me.” _

_ “Aha?” Johnny chuckles, clearly beyond interested. _

_ “It wasn’t that hard to miss,” Brooke smirks. “Vanjie is many things, but subtle isn’t one of them, thank god.” Brooke laughs, her fingers fiddling with her boots. “He was hitting on me hard, and I flirted back, of course, I mean, he’s gorgeous.” Brooke chuckles, “really cute. He says that we’ve met once before, and I somewhat remember it. We texted a little before going on the show, but I had never considered him to be, well-” Brooke gestures, “him.” _

_ “Vanjie is very Vanjie.” Johnny smiles.  _

_ “Extremely Vanjie,” Brooke smiles, joy clear on her face. “I had never really thought about him in that way, and I have no idea why I started doing it in a competition setting, but it just, the spark was there, and it happened and, I mean-” Brooke moves a little on the couch. “He’s stupidly charming, and he’s so fun and infectious and amazing to be around.” Brooke grins. “He’s also going to be insufferable once he sees this.” _

_ Brooke looks at the camera, blowing it a kiss, before she leans back again.  _

_ “But honestly, he always makes you laugh, and it was this combination of all of these things, and it was really nice. I always say it was like having a comfortable blanket there. Of course there was the competition, but I also had this really cool thing, happen on the side.”  _

_ “I’ve been meaning to ask about that,” Johnny grins, pointing his cards at Brooke. “How did you guys get any time alone? When did you have time to speak?” _

_ “We didn’t, we just made out in the van” Brooke laughs. “No I’m kidding. I mean, we were making out in the van to and from the hotel. The girls hated it, especially A’keria, but we had time to talk sometimes.” Brooke smiles. “One of the production assistants let us send notes, and we got each other little gifts, like saving an orange from the breakfast buffet and that kind of stuff.” Brooke grins, leaning her head on her hand, arm resting on the back of the couch. “The lights went out in Untucked once.”  _

_ “Really?!” Johnny gaps, obviously not expecting that bit of information.  _

_ “Mmh.” Brooke smirks. “But mostly we placed tongue hockey.” Brooke chuckles. “It was a very PG-13 romance. Promise.” _

_ “When you decided to start kissing in the Werq Room, you had to have considered that it could be a storyline, right?” _

_ “I mean,” Brooke sighs, biting her lip for a moment. “We didn’t forget, or I didn’t, completely forget that the cameras were there, that’s impossible, but-” Brooke waits a second. “I really liked him, and I wanted to kiss him, and-” Brooke waits again. “People used to say we only did it for the storyline, but we’re still together, still going strong, and sometimes, you just find love in a hopeless place.”  _

_ Johnny laughs, and Brooke smiles.  _

_ “We didn’t plan anything with it though, cross my heart and hope to die.” Brooke sits up. “If you noticed, we were very careful not to let it interfere with the competition. We never favored each other,” Brooke counts on her fingers, “we never picked each other for challenges, we kept it separate and there was no favoritism.” Brooke smiles. “We actually had a conversation about it, where we both promised we’d kick ass. When we were in that Werq Room, it was business.” _

_ “How did it feel to have that pressure on you?” Johnny looks at Brooke. “The pressure of Branjie I mean?” _

_ “Oh I hated it.”  _

_ Johnny looks confused for a moment. “Really?” _

_ “Absolutely hated it. I’ve actually been a real asshole about it, not to the fans obviously, but sometimes I’ve been an asshole to Vanjie.” Brooke looks into the camera, an apologetic look on her face, mouthing a quick ‘sorry’. “It was just so much, and I never asked for it, I never wanted-” Brooke took a breath. “Vanjie is my first boyfriend, my only boyfriend, and it was strange going from completely private, like barely even telling our closest friends before the show aired.” Brooke gestures, “to suddenly having everyone involved in our business, tagging us on Instagram, making fan videos, the whole shablam. It was honestly very uncomfortable at times.” _

_ “Shit,” Johnny looks grim. “That’s very honest of you.” _

_ “Or selfish,” Brooke smiles, but she looks a little sad. “I’m better now, much better, and it doesn’t make me feel bad anymore, but having everyone up in your business like that? Yuck.” _

_ “So was it hard to watch it when it aired?” _

_ “Oh.” Brooke looks surprised. “No, no, not at all.” Brooke smiles. “It’s a little awkward to watch myself sometimes, but I’m actually glad they taped it, I’m glad I have our first moments together there for me to look back on forever.” _

_ “That’s pretty romantic.” _

_ “Right?” Brooke grins. “It’s nice to see it. There’s a lot of joy and comfort there. Vanjie uses the gifs sometimes.” _

_ “Really?” Johnny raises a brow. _

_ “Yup,” Brooke laughs. “If it’s not a gif of us or pictures of the pets, he’s sending me animal videos. That’s kind of our thing. We’re those people.” Brooke looks into the camera. _

_ “During the season there was a lot of drama, but you seemed to stay out of it?” _

_ “Yeah,” Brooke grins, “I was told over and over that I have no personality, but when I get somewhere, I’m not one of those people who go all, ba!” Brooke gestures with her hands, “look at me, like a lot of the other peoples on our cast” Brooke shrugs. “I’m much more of a people watcher. I wasn’t trying to start any drama, and there was plenty of it without me doing that.” _

_ *** _

_ “And that was why your lip sync against Yvie was so good.” Johnny smiles. “And speaking of lip syncs.” Johnny swipes his cards. “Another dramatic moment was when you had to send Vanjie home?” _

_ “Yeah,” Brooke nods. “That was a hard one. Honestly, I remember, it was the final day, final lip sync, and I remember thinking that I was so tired, but I wanted to do my best, and I wanted to win fair and square.” _

_ “You wanted to win?” _

_ “Of course.” Brooke nods again. “I went in, hoping and doing my best to win, but I was also thinking that both Vanjie and I deserved that I did my best, even if it was against him. Whoever goes home, goes home. We made a deal not to spare anyone, but it was so hard. Vanjie, A’keria and Silky were so good friends, and I broke that up, and Silky hated me for a long time, like, a really long time.” Brooke chuckles. “But I stand by what I did. I gave the last little bit I had to get there, and I made it to the finale.” _

_ “What were your feelings going into the finale? The show had been airing, you had been getting great response.” _

_ “Okay, so, even though I just did that whole speech about wanting to win? I had no idea if I actually would.” Brooke smiles, “I wanted to go in, have a good time. That was my main thing, because I stress myself out so much, and I can get into a really dark place like you saw on the show.” Brooke vaguely gestures.  _

_ “I just wanted to have fun with my performance, and it was a legitimately good time. I had a good lip sync against Silky, and I fought Yvie with everything I had. Winning isn’t all, and I remember I got into the top 2 and I was jumping for joy. I had my mom there and my brother and my best friend, and I got to walk across that stage and look at Vanjie and know that I had made it that far? That was special, really truly special, and I mean,” Brooke smiles, “it doesn’t hurt that I looked fucking amazing in the crown.” _

_ “Ha!” Johnny laughs, Brooke joining in. “You served it up. Have you ever watched season 11 back?” _

_ “Know what, actually I have.” Brooke smiles. “I watched it during Werq the World with the dance crew.” _

_ “What?”  _

_ “Yes!” Brooke grins. “None of them had watched it, so we saw it on the bus, traveling from country to country in Europe, which is honestly how I recommend every Ru Girl watch their own season.” _


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based on Brooke's "Look at Huh!" episode: https://youtu.be/ZarpVUpccxI

_ “Alright,” Johnny puts the pink binoculars in front of his face. “Look at Huh!” _

_ Pink bubbles cover the screen, and a picture of Vanjie pops up. Vanjie is wearing a gold dress and a brown wig, curls cascading down, big golden hoops in her ears, a nude on her lips.  _

_ “Miss Vaaaaanjie,” Johnny grins. “Your very own boyfriend.” _

_ “My very own boyfriend.” Brooke smiles. “I’m actually impressed you didn’t ask about him first.” _

_ “We love all kinds of tea here on Hey Qween.” Johnny wiggles his brows. “So, Vanjie, Drag Race Superstar, the other half of Branjie.” _

_ “That’s one way to introduce him.” Brooke shakes her head, a small smile on her lip.  _

_ “We saw a lot of you two together on Drag Race, what’s something we didn’t see?” _

_ “Oh god,” Brooke laughs, pushing her wig over her shoulder, grabbing one of the strands to twirl it between her fingers. “Besides the van?” Brooke smirks. _

_ “Besides the van.” _

_ “I should have saved some of my stories for this segment of the show,” Brooke bites her lip, but her eyes are sparkling. She moves a bit, crossing her legs. “We didn’t get to spend a lot of time together, unfortunately. You know they keep us on ice-” _

_ “We do.” Johnny nods. “Total radio silence.”  _

_ “Uh!” Brooke lights up. “There is one cute moment I can share, and if I remember correctly, they didn’t get it on camera.” Brooke grins, holding up her hands. “So, I’m a bit of a snacker, and during the farm to runway challenge, we had this entiiiire-” Brooke makes a sweeping gesture. “Spread of fresh produce.” _

_ “I remember that! Shuga was snacking on it.”  _

_ “Exactly, and so was I.” Brooke smiles. “Shuga and I were making our way through, getting a little bit of this, a little bit of that, trying to figure out what everything is, when Vanjie comes up to the table.” _

_ “Really?” Johnny’s eyes widens, his curiosity spiking. _

_ “Mmh, and like, I knew-” Brooke laughs, cutting herself off, “I already sort of knew that Vanjie was a picky eater, I mean, it’s hard to miss,” Brooke rolls her eyes, a smile on her lips, “but he comes up to the table, and since I’m flirting, I offer him what Shuga and I think is kale.” _

_ “As one do.” Johnny smirks. He’s clearly confused, but obviously he’s also enjoying it.  _

_ “Right?” Brooke grins, “anyway, I offer him the kale, and he looked so offended, like, more offended than he does now when I borrow his makeup, so I just ate it to shut him up.” Brooke chuckles. “I know it’s not the most exciting story, but I still remember that moment, mainly because raw kale tastes like shit, but I wasn’t going to spit it out when he was standing right there acting like a prissy little bitch.”  _

_ Johnny laughs, and Brooke shrugs at the camera, mouthing a ‘love you’ to it.  _

_ “Honestly though,” Brooke refocuses on Johnny. “Most of our time on the show was stolen kisses and conversations we shouldn’t be having. It was cute. Very junior high,” Brooke smiles, “but looking back at it now, I don’t mind it one bit, though I would have liked more making out.” _

_ Brooke and Johnny laugh together. _

_ “So,” Johnny looks down at his notes. “After the show was done, and before the finale. What was that like?” _

_ “Uh,” Brooke does a quick grimace. “I don’t want to talk about that periode too much. It’s not really,” Brooke taps the tip of her fingers together, clearly thinking about her words. “Vanjie is actually very private, and, I’m fairly private too, and even though we talk about each other, we try to like, discuss it beforehand. Some of this is my fault, because of my whole Branjie baggage thing.” _

_ “Of course.” Johnny nods. _

_ “But part of it is also just that we like to keep some things for ourselves. To have stuff that belongs to Brock and José and not to Brooke Lynn Hytes and Vanjie.” Brooke looks a little uncomfortable. “You’re a very good interviewer. This isn’t stuff I normally talk about.” _

_ “That’s the Hey Qween magic.” Johnny smiles. _

_ “You should bottle it up.” Brooke chuckles. "Sell if for profit." _

_ “Was it weird, going from seeing each other in the Drag Race space with all the cameras, to having no cameras at all?” _

_ “So weird!” Brooke laughs. “Weird, but also nice. We got to be a couple and like, do couple things together. The time between filming the show, and the finale. It was… It was wild. It wasn’t easy during those first few months, and we almost broke up, but we realised-” Brooke taps her fingers against the fan.  _

_ “We realised that we loved each other, and that we wanted to stay together and that we wanted to fight for it.” Brooke smiles. “Vanjie honestly deserves most of the credit for that. He dealt with a lot of crap from me that he shouldn’t have, but he did it.” _

_ “What kind of crap?” Johnny taps his cards against the table.  _

_ “Oh god.” Brooke groans. “This is super embarrassing.” _

_ “Yes!” Johnny grins, his eyes sparkling. “You know you’re obligated to say it now.” _

_ “So,” Brooke groans again. “Okay, fine, fine, I’m doing this. Before the season aired, when we’d go out in public, everyone, and I mean, everyone, knew who Vanjie was.” _

_ “And timeline wise this was right after season 10 had finished?” _

_ “Exactly.” Brooke nods. “No one knew who I was, which was a real kick to my self esteem.” Brooke looks a bit embarrassed. “Like I don’t want to be that person, but I was, so on top of me being jealous of all the professional attention he got-” _

_ “The Vanjie hype was out of this world.” _

_ “It really was.” Brooke smiles. “But on top of that, we both knew we had to be super careful because we had these NDA’s hanging over our heads and we also didn’t want to spoil anything about the season, and it was just a weird and uncomfortable situation.” _

_ “You say that, but I mean,” Johnny looks over at Brooke. “There also has to have been something sweet about that one pocket in time, because after Drag Race aired, those months, they were your last private moments before the world knew who you were.” _

_ “They were. For all upcoming Ru Girls, all I can say is, treasure that time.” Brooke looks at the camera. “The minute the show starts airing, the fans are just on you, and it’s wonderful!” Brooke holds up her hands. “Don’t get me wrong. I own so much of my life to the shows and the fans and I wear the crown with pride, but it’s also,” Brooke sighs. “Some days,” she scrunches up her nose. “Some days it’s a lot, and I like, turn off my phone and I can’t deal with it.” _

_ “We’ve heard that from a lot of girls,” Johnny nods, clearly agreeing. “Drag Race can be hard, because people have so many opinions, but throw in a romance, and people’s expectations, their dreams, what they want, how they want drama, they want this, they want that. That must have been something to sort through.”  _

_ “It’s hard. I’m not going to lie and say that it isn’t.” Brooke taps her fan against her leg. “I’ve gotten better about knowing where it’s coming from, the attention from the viewers and the fans, and I’ve learned that, one of the reasons so many of them care about our relationship, part of it is because they like… They look at us, and think ‘wow, love can really happen for gay people’-” Brooke swallows, geniune emotions flashing over her face.  _

_ “It wasn’t-” Brooke pauses for a moment. “It wasn’t what I set out to do, and I know it wasn’t what José set out to do either. We’re just two people who happened to fall in love on a reality TV show,” Brooke chuckles, the absurdity of the situation clearly not lost on her, before her face becomes more serious. _

_ “The thing is, if we can help just one,” Brooke holds up a finger, “gay kid feel like they’re not alone, and that they deserve love and that they’ll find it one day, then, then it’s not that bad.”  _

  
  



End file.
